Through the advent and proliferation of the Internet, computer users have found many new ways to communicate with one another. One of the most popular new ways for computer users to communicate with each other is through instant messaging (“IM”). IM allows two or more networked computer users to communicate in real-time. Typically, this is accomplished through the use of an IM client application installed on each user's computer. Each computer user is also assigned a unique user identification code (“user ID”) that allows them to be uniquely identified from a multitude of IM users. IM client applications also typically provide “buddy lists” containing the user IDs of the people with which they most frequently engage in IM conversations.
To initiate an IM conversation, an initiating user may simply select a user ID of a user to be contacted from the buddy list provided by the IM client application. The IM client application then sends a request to initiate an IM session to an IM client application remotely executing on the computer of the user having the selected user ID. The remotely executing IM client application then provides some indication to the contacted user that the initiating user would like to engage in an IM conversation. The contacted user may accept or decline the request. If the contacted user accepts the request, an IM session is initiated and each user may type messages to the other in real time. If the contacted user declines the request, no IM session is initiated and a message is provided to the initiating user that the request has been declined. For text messages, there is no invitation to accept or decline an instant message. The sender simply selects an on-line buddy (the buddy must be on-line at the time) and can then send a message. The recipient will receive a notification that an IM conversation has started and an IM conversation window will be opened. The user can choose to ignore or respond, but the session has been established.
Previous IM client applications have had limited success thus far of allowing a user to accept or decline a request for an IM session while utilizing another application program. In particular, previous IM client applications typically do not provide any information regarding the requested IM session other than the user ID of the initiating user. This can be frustrating for the contacted user because they must respond to an IM request just to determine the topic of the requested IM session. This may be particularly frustrating for a contacted user who responds to such a request only to determine that he or she did not want to participate in an IM session having the given topic.
Previous IM client applications also do not permit users to monitor the contents of an IM session without having the IM client application window active. This can be frustrating for a user who is not actively participating in an IM session but who would like to monitor the IM session to determine if their participation is required. Moreover, previous IM client applications are only operative to receive instant messages from other IM client applications. These previous IM client applications cannot receive instant messages from business partners or other outside entities. This is a severe drawback in that previous IM client applications cannot deliver important messages from any entity other than another IM client application installed on another user computer.
Accordingly, in light of the above problems, there is a need for a method and apparatus for providing an IM notification that can provide a topic for a requested IM session. Using this information, a user may decide whether or not to participate in the IM session before actually becoming a part of the session. There is also a need for a method and apparatus for providing an IM notification that allows a user to monitor the contents of an IM session without actively participating the IM session and without having to make the IM client application window an active window. There is a further need for a method and apparatus for providing an IM notification that can receive and deliver instant messages from business partners of the IM provider and other outside entities.